


Artist in Relief

by tjs_whatnot



Category: Trace--Sam Starbuck
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Masturbation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-20
Updated: 2012-05-20
Packaged: 2017-11-05 17:23:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/409055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tjs_whatnot/pseuds/tjs_whatnot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Colin tries to find a way for Noel to feel pleasure as well as pain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Artist in Relief

**Author's Note:**

> I’d like to say it’s not important to have read the book first, but it would be a lie. The premise isn’t well explained for those who aren’t familiar with the canon. But, you should, really, really read the book anyway. It is _glorious_. I only hope to highlight its true magnificence, never match it.

Colin slipped through the prison bars, his fresh, new tattoo snaked up one arm, along his shoulder blade and down the other. It was exquisite. Noel’s finest work.

He turned to tell Noel that, to tell him he hoped the tattoo stayed, that he got to keep it for a while. The whimper from the other man stopped Colin from saying anything.

Colin knew that the inked needles piercing his skin over and over was like a fresh stab to the artist, that was the nature of Noel’s punishment, his pittance, to feel every prick while the recipient felt nothing. Colin had once felt bad about putting Noel through it, for wanting this from him, but that was years ago, that was before Colin understood about passion, desire and compulsion. The need to feel, connect and create something beautiful no matter the torture it caused.

Still, there was one thing with _knowing_ that a man was in pain and another actually witnessing it. Colin slithered back into the cell. He knew that Noel liked to suffer in peace, but he had an overwhelming desire to ease Noel’s mind if he could, to get him to focus on something other than hurt. Colin wanted to sit beside him, put his arm around Noel, but the skin on both their bodies were too raw, too sensitive. Instead, Colin sat on the floor, opposite of the man, careful not to lean back exposing his decorated shoulders to the concrete walls.

“You ever wonder if it’s only pain you can experience vicariously?” Colin asked.

Noel was breathing heavily through his teeth. “What do you mean?”

“Well, in this moments when we’re so close, when we’re almost as one and you are touching, caressing, showering me with attention, do you feel other things, or only the pain?”

“Pain is all I can focus on, but there are... other things, other...”

“Stirrings?” Colin finished. Of course he had felt them too. He didn’t have the distraction of pain, he only had Noel’s hands rubbing, stroking, his breath hot on his skin, dampening his pores. 

“Yeah,” Noel whispered, his cheeks crimson.

“Can I try something?” Colin asked.

Noel shrugged.

“Lay down, close your eyes,” Colin ordered.

Noel only studied him for a moment before complying, laying on his stomach, his fists under his chin, propping his head up.

“Listen to me, to my voice, see what I see, feel what I feel.”

Noel didn’t answer but gave a small nod.

“Imagine me below you, my back exposed. The skin flawless, a blank canvas. Can you see it?”

“Yes,” Noel hissed. “But it’s not flawless.”

“No?”

“No. There is a mole on the left shoulder blade, right before it touches your spine.”

“Really? You never told me that before.”

“I like knowing more about your skin then you do.”

Colin smiled. “Tell me what my skin feels like.”

Noel opened his fists and laid them flush against the mattress. “Soft. Warm. I can feel the trust in the way you don’t flinch, don’t recoil. But there are places... spaces were hurt resides, places I want to heal. That’s where I start.”

“I know.”

“What do you feel?” Noel asked.

Colin took a deep breath, closed his eyes. He ran his fingers lightly along the pulse on his neck where the blood rushed so close to the surface and whispered, “Alive.”

Noel whimpered softly and Colin knew that the other man felt it too. That rushing, beating life. He continued, working his fingers along his collarbone. “Your hands hover over me, I feel the magic and spark of creativity flare in those fingers as you study me. Then you touch me and my whole body prickles with anticipation.”

Now Noel moaned and Colin heard him adjust slightly on the cot, but he didn’t open his eyes, didn’t break the spell. “For a moment your hands leave me and an emptiness washes over me, but I know that you are gathering your equipment, preparing the mojo so I wait, the tension of impatience mounting.”

“Yessss,” Noel hissed as Colin reached between his abdomen and his jockeys and ran his hand down his hard shaft.

“I sigh when your hands return to me and can picture you, your intake of breath as you bite on your lower lip in concentration. Then one hand caresses me before finding your spot...”

Colin began stroking his cock to match his slow storytelling. He heard an even screech of the cot’s scrape against the cement floors and imagined Noel pumping his hips steadily into the thin mattress. Colin pushed that image from his mind and replaced it with the one he’d been retelling and continued:

“I feel your gift wash over me with every prick of the needle. So many times when I hear your whimper, I want to stop you, to stop this madness, but by then, I can’t. I want it too much, want your magic, your talent. Need it.”

Colin let his head fall back against the wall, if there was pain in the movement, Noel didn’t acknowledge it. His mind clearly somewhere else. Colin increased his pace and Noel did likewise a moment after.

“I get lost in your touch... in becoming your canvas... in your dedication. A drop of sweat falls from your brow and I arch into it--”

Noel moaned and Colin knew he was close. He felt his own orgasm riding through his body as he continued in rushed breaths. “I feel it sizzle under my skin... in that moment... that moment before... before you... swipe it... away... rub it into--”

The darkness behind his tightly closed eyes explode in fractals of dazzling light at the moment his orgasm rocked through him, and he slumped his back against the concrete wall, spent. Somewhere in the distance of the blood pumping in his ears, he heard Noel’s cry. There is still a tinge of pain in the outburst, but far more than that is delirious and overwhelming pleasure. 

Colin smiled and then tenderly sat up, feeling what he knew had happened. The ink oozing out of his pores and down his back. Regret at the loss of the new tattoo so soon was quickly replaced with the slightly euphoric idea of once again being under Noel’s magic.

Until then...

He kissed Noel on his dampened temple, caressed his rapidly heaving back until it slowed and then slinked through the bars once again, looking one last time at the artist, in relief.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for MMoM on Livejournal and because I have a _slight_ thing for Tattoo!Porn. ♥


End file.
